Stora Enso back in profit with shift from news to food
Helsinki (AFP) - Finnish paper manufacturer Stora Enso announced Wednesday a return to profit as the group shifted from declining printing paper sales to food packaging.
The group made a profit of 99 million euros ($113 million) in 2014 -- compared to a loss of 53 million euros a year earlier -- despite a 3 percent fall in turnover to 10.21 billion euros.
Faced with declining demand for paper in Europe as the newspaper industry moves online, Stora Enso has cut costs by closing paper facilities in Finland and France and sought to diversify into renewable food packaging and wood-based products for construction.
Printing paper sales fell by 9 percent from 2013 to 3.9 billion euros in 2014, while sales of renewable packaging, the group's second most important business, grew by 2 percent 3.3 billion euros.
"Our sales increased by 1.4 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, excluding the structurally declining paper business and divested businesses," Stora Enso's chief executive Karl-Henrik Sundstroem said in a statement, adding that new growth areas for pulp paper products now account for 62 percent of sales.
